![]() ![]() Your training routine may be modified to include cross-training and low-impact activities, such as low-gravity treadmills, ellipticals, pool running or cycling. A sports medicine specialist will consider your overall load, maintain your cardio and keep building strength. If you are diagnosed with a stress fracture, your sports medicine specialist may recommend wearing a walking boot, brace or crutches.Ī sports medicine specialist can help design a training routine that will keep you moving but allow you to heal, too. What to Expect From Treatment for Shin Pain Stress fractures won’t go away without some modification to your training routine, Dr. “At some point, the damage from training gets ahead of the healing.” Your body can’t keep up with the training and the healing process,” she says. “The biggest thing with a stress fracture is that it’s an imbalance. Also, if the underlying causes of your stress fracture are not taken care of, you may be at higher risk for more stress fractures. “If you’re limping, you shouldn’t be running.”Ī stress fracture can cause chronic problems if not allowed to heal properly. “Any pain that persists after you rest should be evaluated by a sports medicine specialist, and anything that causes you to limp should be evaluated,” she says. This is dangerous with stress fractures, however, because your bones can’t repair themselves while you’re increasing the duration, intensity or frequency of your training. Many runners will wave off shin pain and continue to train, Dr. Stress fractures are the most serious of all running injuries. Why It's Important to Get Medical Care for Shin Pain “A lot of people try to treat it themselves, but it if recurs, it needs evaluation,” she says. To avoid shin splints, make sure you’re wearing the right shoes for your foot and ones that are not too well-used. ![]() You also can take an over-the-counter pain reliever such as ibuprofen (such as Advil or Motrin), naproxen (such as Aleve) or acetaminophen (such as Tylenol). You can treat shin splints at home by applying ice packs to the painful area for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, four to eight times a day for several days. The pain will lessen over time as you get stronger. It’s better to switch to low-impact exercises such as swimming, cycling or water running until you heal, she says. If you develop shin splints, avoid activities that cause pain, swelling or discomfort, but don’t stop all physical activity. In addition, shin splint pain may be more tolerable than pain from a stress fracture. The pain usually lessens after you warm up, Dr. With shin splints, pain often occurs over a broad area, although it may be localized, affecting a small area. How to tell these two conditions apart? With a stress fracture, the pain gets worse as you run and persists in a smaller location after you run, Dr. “Sometimes people don’t realize how much they are doing or how much they are increasing.” How To Tell Shin Splints From a Stress Fracture “The history really clues me in,” she says. Goldberg recommends athletes keep a training log, which can help to identify training errors or pinpoint problems. ![]() If a patient mentions shin pain, one of the first things she asks her patients is to review their workout log. “A runner may be progressing with running, but has added other weight-bearing activities such as plyometrics and is not allowing enough recovery time.” “One of the most common causes is a sudden increase in weight-bearing exercise,” Dr. Shin splints and stress fractures happen when you overtax your leg muscles, tendons or shin bone through a sudden increase in training. While they are different medical conditions, shin splints and stress fractures share the same causes: an overload problem, says Laura Goldberg, MD, a pediatric sports medicine specialist with UH Sports Medicine. They also are a common problem for runners, gymnasts or dancers and athletes in high-impact sports such as track and field, basketball or tennis. Stress fractures are tiny cracks in the bone. They are a common problem for runners, gymnasts and dancers. Shin splints happen when the muscles, tendons and bone tissue around your shin bone – the tibia – become inflamed. You can take steps to heal and avoid making the injury worse or getting it again later. Whether your shin pain is due to shin splints or a stress fracture, it’s important not to keep training the same way through either injury. If you’re an athlete and your shins begin to hurt, you might think it’s “just” shin splints, keep right on with your running program and try to train through the pain.īut that pain between your knees and your ankle could be a stress fracture. ![]()
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